Water polo: Sharks angling for play-off success

Top-flight women’s Super Fives water polo will be making a splash in Leeds this weekend, writes JOE GLEAVE.

The Super Fives are the top five clubs in the country this season and are battling it out to be national champions.

The Leeds Sharks narrowly missed out on getting into the Super Fives, and as a result will be playing over the weekend in the Championship.

The Sharks finished in the bottom three and now find themselves in a play-off league with the bottom three of Division One and the top five of Division Two.

The promotion/relegation league, the Championship 1, is played over three weekends, with this the penultimate round of matches.

Leeds are in a strong position after the first weekend having defeated Penguin Emperors 8-7 in a close-fought encounter, and Liverpool Liver Birds 7-3. They now sit second in the table with four points alongside Otter Lutra in first ahead of their games against Mid Sussex Marlins and Scotland-based Caledonia this weekend.

Sharks will be hoping Emma Little can add to her five goals so far in the Championship 1 to keep them in the top flight next season.

Team GB players who competed at the London 2012 Olympics will be in action in the Super Fives matches. Included are City of Coventry star Fran Clayton, who leads the Super Fives scoring charts with 11 goals, Team GB captain and Liverpool Lizards goalkeeper Rosie Morris, and City of Manchester’s Chloe Wilcox, who recently returned from playing in Spain.

Six matches will take place from 2-8pm on Saturday, with another seven matches on Sunday between 9am and 4pm. A match usually lasts one hour.

Leeds Sharks will play their games at 2pm on Saturday and 10.15am on Sunday.

The event is free of charge and will be held at the University of Leeds’ sports centre, The Edge.

Which Leeds United players could feature over the international break?